correct execution, joint health

I started with Foundation 1 yesterday.

Have been doing sports for all my life. With Foundation my main goal was to take greater care of my joints and their health. And to learn to execute movements more precise.

I would like to ask some questions, some are on my mind since quite some time and some were triggered by the exercises:

• How does Foundation 1 help me have more healthy joints? I suppose the movements make it somehow stronger and also more mobile which increases its range of motion? I am not familiar with this process and would like to learn more about it.

It seems my body has quite some problems I always never looked into because they werent really a big pain for me. Thinking about the future I should probably take care now arleady:

• I have some kind of grinding or popping motions in the hip and shoulders at times. In some videos Coach Sommer mentions that grinding is not good. So I try to limit the ROM until there is not grinding, right?
• Then over a period of time doing the exercise in this ROM it will get more free and I can increase it, meaning I only increase it when I can without having grinding, right?
• What about the popping sound? Also a bad sign?

Now about the exercises:

• The incline Pushup seemed at first quite easy to me (strength wise) but when I look at the details of execution I am not so sure anymore I hold compression and protrection, but during the movement sometimes the shoulder doesnt stay in complete compression but maybe returns to 'normal', I should prevent hat?
• During Incline Pushup I have the popping sounds in my right shoulder only, it happens during descension. What now?
• Swivel Hips, I always did this exercise with lifting the butt. Having it stay on the floor inward rotation is at a minimum degree. Also some popping during the first movements. I wonder whether there is a limit to the amount of reps one is allowed to do. Since like pointed out above I am not sure how joint health actually works I am not sure if it is a good idea to just use swivel hips for half an hour when watching TV and just playing with it. Can someone enlighten me on this? I could imagine it to be nice but at the same time I could actually damage something without knowing.

With purchasing Foundation 1 and following the exercises it was actually my goal to stop wondering about such things and understanding them so I can do my movement right.

Would be very nice if someone could explain me my general questions in detail or point me to resources where I can read about it, and answering my exercise specific questions too

Thanks guys.

I Michael, joint health it is build up with 2 parallel ways:

1-progressive load, correct recovery and increased in tensity time over time

2-restoring of the range of motion which makes the force or gravity correctly absorbed by muscles and on the correct direction. this means that the joint it is working well.

For the other question about push up I need a video from you showing the exercise in order to correct something which actually I suppose can be wrong.

What about swivel hips for half an hours, if one exercise it is done correctly there is nothing wrong with it, but what about if it is not properly done? it was up on your own risk.

for evaluation exists as a GB service exactly for that. 

Well... I don't think I would notice swivel hips for a half hour if I were doing something, but if I weren't very comfortable with full ROM I would stay away from that. Shorter, more frequent sets can be effective but if you're working with a limited range of motion you stand to irritate your hip before helping things

Thanks for your replies.

I will try to post videos of me doing the exercises so you can have a better idea of my execution.

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1-progressive: load, correct recovery and increased in tensity time over time

correct recovery: this is exactly what I wonder about, whether it would be better to do squivel hips only during the workout and only the specified set, or whether I can do them more often during the day. It could either be bad for recovery or it could be good because it is worked more often in a light way? I am still not clear about that.

You can do them more frequently when you know that you are doing the correct technique. basically this is correct only for exercise with low/middle impact on joint.

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For the other question about push up I need a video from you showing the exercise in order to correct something which actually I suppose can be wrong.

@Alessandro Mainente here is the video:

I see there that I should focus more on posterior tilt (I have a hollow back in general, that makes it a bit harder for me). Maybe you can check execution and then answer my previous questions.

The video has only the two exercises related to the question, at the end I show my current one leg squat which I never actively trained. I only saw it on a video and tried it and that is the result. I assume it is a byproduct of the martial arts training I'm doing.

I would like to take this as a example of the differences people start with. Because people start with such different levels in different areas I wondered how long/often one can do the exercises. I am thus not sure if the suggested workout schedule can fit all people.

Right now I have more free time on my hands, which is why I asked about doing the workouts more often. But first I need to understand what it is we train and how fast the recovery can work and whether all this is thought about in the creation of the suggested schedule. My attempt would be to have 3 workouts (core, lower body, middle split on one day. upper body, front split.. on the next and so on.

Hi Michael,

Since you just began Foundation One, I suggest performing each workout once per week. Start with this schedule for at least 4 weeks. After that, if you feel you are recovering fine, you can consider adding in additional workouts to your weekly schedule. If you would like to dedicate some extra time each week to the integrated mobility exercises from the course that would be just fine.

If pain accompanies the popping/grinding in your joints, stop immediately and consider seeing a sports physio. Reduce the range of motion to avoid excessive popping and grinding. Developing better joint health is different from building your muscles as it takes longer and must be more carefully approached. 

For the incline pushup, work on protracting at the top of each rep. Spread your shoulder blades apart each time just like in sPL/PE1. Keeping more tension in your core and glutes will help you achieve PPT. Your swivel hips look fine to me. 

@Everett Carroll so the reason why I should only perform the workout once per week is not my muscle fatigue it's about the regeneration of the joints?

Which makes it harder to know when I am ready (for me) since after the workouts I did so far I did not feel any fatigue on the next day.

Some of these exercises are performed by other people without full ROM and that is why there you only need to concerned about muscle regeneration but when using full (currently accessible) ROM I also need to take the regeneration of joints and other tissues into account, is it like that? This would mean that it really isnt important if I did some of the exercises before already since I didnt do them with full ROM so my joints are still weak.

And GST emphazises the joints because only then one will have a good strength which one needs for the more advances exercises. Otherwise the joints will always be the weakes link and prone to injury and prevent one from performing hard exercises.

This would also mean that even if I do the GST workout each only once per week, that I need to take care what other sports I do during the week. Preferably something that doesnt stress the joints.

Is this like it? If not please correct me, I would like to understand this fully before deciding what to do when 14 days trial is over.

21 hours ago, Michael Vetter said:

so the reason why I should only perform the workout once per week is not my muscle fatigue it's about the regeneration of the joints?

Exactly Michael. There will be some muscular fatigue as the volume increases and you get closer to mastery. However, the main purpose of the higher repetitions and integrated mobility exercises is to prepare your connective tissue. 

After you have been training Foundation One for at least a month, you can either add in some extra F1 training to your week or, better yet, begin the stretch courses to more quickly take care of mobility deficits.

Right now your focus is on mastering the form of each progression and becoming more mobile as you progress through the steps. The joints are susceptible to injury if you have not prepared them correctly for more advanced gymnastics. The focus now is getting prepared for more advanced training. 

Thanks a lot @Everett Carroll! This helps a lot. Now I understood what I am supposed to do. Feel much better now!